Mrs Eliza Fraser

USC22_0003
Fraser Island is named from Captain Fraser of the ship "Stirling Castle," wrecked on Elizabeth Reef, 300 miles to the south-east on 21st May, 1836. Fraser Island , Mrs. Fraser, the mate Brown, and some of the crew finaly landed on Fraser Island, were received in a friendly manner by the blacks, and passed on in canoes t the mainland at Inskip Point, to be forwarded to the white people at the Brisbane Convict Settlement, which no one reached except Mrs. Fraser, the others, according to her three different and very contradictory stories, beign killed by the blacks at or near the present Noosa River.

USC185_0001
Eliza Frasers Troubled Times

A contempory look at how 20th century journalists
might have reported incidents of the times.

All 18 people aboard including a pregnant woman, Mrs Eliza Fraser, managed to launch a long- boat and the ship's pinnace after some initial confusion heading for the nearest European settlement at Moreton Bay.

BABY DIED AT BIRTH
At Sea, 26th May, 1836:
A baby born to Mrs Eliza Fraser in a lifeboat shared with eleven men today survived only a few seconds before drowning. The unexpected birth occurred somewhere in the Coral Sea after Mrs Fraser collapsed into the scuppers resulting in the baby being born underwater and drowning soon after birth. Mrs Fraser's premature labour is thought to have been brought on by the strenuous work she had undertaken during ordeal that she and the others aboard have been through during the last three days since the Stirling Castle, commanded by her husband, ran aground on a reef and had to be abandoned.

A crew member said that Mrs Fraser had tried to undertake her husband's share of the work in the leaky long boat which is opening at the seams and has to be bailed out continuously. Fraser, who has suffered from an Acute ulcer, has been too ill to move at all.

The dead baby was wrapped in a shirt by Chief Officer, Brown, who consigned it to the sea for burial.
It was the 37 year old Mrs Fraser's fourth child. It is survived by one sister, Jane (15), and two brothers, James (11) and David (6) who are in the care of a minister at the Fraser's home at Stromness, Orkney Islands, Scotland.

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One of the crew Harry Youlden was very critical of Mrs Fraser who was also in the crew and who had accused him for "stealing drinking water" during the ordeal. He said, "The Captain's wife was a vixen and a terrible liar and the most artful and profane woman that ever lived, coming very near to my idea of the Devil".

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Wife watches as husband slain Mrs Eliza Fraser said that during this time she saw her 57 year old husband killed by Aborigines on Great Sandy Island before her eyes.

Woman claims to have been slave of blacks Fraser Island. July 1836: Fraser Island Aborigines surrounded the remaining six exhausted, sunburnt mariners from the Stirling Castle and stripped them of their clothes and forced them into slavery.

The only woman in the party, Mrs Eliza Fraser, said that the party had been forced to land their leaky lifeboat on 26th June near Waddy Point and to seek food and water but when they approached the Aborigines, who greeted them with loud "Coo-ee's", the mariners were relieved of all removable clothing in the first rush . This had been followed by a three day stand-off before the Aborigines returned to trade fish for clothing over the next week.

Mrs Fraser said that the trading continued until 11th July, during which time attempts to repair the lifeboat proved fruitless and strong southerly winds prevented the party rowing south. She said that then half of their party had then mutinied and walked off leaving her husband, Captain James Fraser, four other surviviors and herself on the beach without enough manpower to get the boat off.

"The poor diet, our weakened condition and and urgency of getting medical help for my husband forced us to try to walk to Brisbane under the cover of darkness but we were overtaken by blacks "We were stripped perfectly naked and forced to follow the natives to their camp where we were now portioned off to different masters, who employed us in carrying wood, water and bark, and treated us with the greatest cruelty.
"With the exception of a small portion of fish which we but very seldom got, all we had to subsist upon was a kind of fern root which we were obliged to procure ourselves in the swamps", she said.

She said that the Aboriginal treatment of her amounted to slavery "During the whole of my detention among the natives I was treated with the greatest cruelty, being obliged to fetch wood and water for them and constantly beaten when incapable of carrying the heavy loads they put upon me; exposed during the night to the inclemency of the weather, being hardly ever allowed to enter their huts even during the heaviest rain," she claimed.

In an exclusive interview with the "Times" she said: "In consequence of these hardships my husband soon became so much weakened as to be totally incapable of doing the work that was required of him, and being on one occasion unable through debility to carry a large log of wood one of the natives threw a spear at him which entered his shoulder a little below the blade bone. Of this wound he never recovered antd being soon after seized with a spitting of blood, he gradually pined away until his death which took place eight or nine days afterwards. During this time whilst he was laying on the ground incapable of moving, I was always prevented from approaching him or rendering any assistance. When he died they dragged him away by the legs and buried him."

Mrs Fraser told another media outlet that after she was separated she saw her husband for the first time after four days when he was dragging along a tree, and was greatly fatigued.

USC185_0002
Reports of other survivors of the Stirling Castle further north were also brought to Brisbane yesterday by seven Aborigines, who have advised a convict constable, John Graham, that some of the crew have died but others including Mrs. Eliza Fraser, the wife of the ship's captain, are still alive in the bush over a hundred miles north.

Captain Foster Fyans, Brisbane said tonight that he was arranging for a search party from Brisbane to rescue Mrs. Fraser and any other survivors of the Stirling Castle.

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Brisbane 20th August, 1836: Four more survivors of the brig Stirling Castle including Mrs Eliza Fraser returned to Brisbane yesterday after being rescued from the Aborigines.

The rescue of Mrs. Fraser, John Baxter, Robert Dayman and Bob Carey who were all found living with Aborigines in the Great Sandy Region, was undertaken by a party led by Lt. Otter and a convict John Graham.

After arriving at the Noosa River on 14th August, Graham had soon located and rescued Dayman and 17 year old Carey who were living on the western side of Lake Cooroibah.

Graham, who lived with the Aborigines in the Great Sandy Region for six years before returning to Brisbane voluntarily three years ago and Lt Otter walked 40 miles along Teewah Beach to find clues to Mrs. Fraser's whereabouts.

Graham said that he was told that Mrs. Fraser, "the She Ghost", was at the "Wa-Wa" (Place of Crows) corroboree ground at Elanda Point on the shores Lake Cootharaba, and that Lt Baxter was on "(Southern end of Fraser Island)"
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Mr Graham said that a big corroboree was underway when he had saved Mrs. Fraser from an Aboriginal named Mothervane, who was claiming Mrs Fraser as his personal property. Mrs. Fraser had been regarded as a prize exhibit at the corroboree.

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Graham said that he used the Aboriginal belief in reincarnation to help persuade the 400 strong tribe and the reluctant Mothervane to release Mrs. Fraser and to allow him to convey her by canoe across the lake. Aborigines escorted Mrs Fraser across the foredunes where she had to wait until she could cover naked, emaciated body with suitable clothing obtained from Lt. Otter.
(Picture: Two canoes with people rowing across a lake.)
Mrs Fraser and the three men had spent 53 days at the hands of the Aborigines who had supplied them with the only food that they had during that period.

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Bracefell helped rescue Eliza Fraser

Brisbane, 1842: Explorer Henry Stuart Russell claimed that former convict and bunda, William Bracefell, who returned to Brisbane with him from Wide Bay should be given credit for rescuing Mrs. Fraser six years ago.
He said that too much credit had been given to John Graham for his part in the rescue when the most dangerous part was undertaken by Bracefell. Mr Russell who has just returned from Great Sandy Island, which he has renamed Fraser's Island, after Captain James Fraser who died there, claims that Bracefell who was living with the Aborigines in the area at that time, led Mrs Fraser to a place where she could be rescued by Graham. Mr Russell said that Graham had obviously maximised his own role in order to obtain a pardon but he had also elicited Bracefell's aid with the prospect of getting him a pardon. Bracefell by stealth got Mrs. Fraser away from the hostile blacks at the Tin Can Bay bora- ring and led her by a devious route on a long nocturnal walk to Lake Cootharaba where he sought out kinsmen of Graham, for further assistance.
All went according to Graham's carefully conceived plan with Graham's "relatives" performing well at the lakeside to assist them.Bracefell said that it would have been impossible to rescue Mrs. Fraser from Tin Can Bay due to the hostility of the natives. When Bracefell had sought her assurance that she would report favourably on him, she renounced him, saying that she would complain of him. He had felt compelled to return to the tribe for his own safety.

(Picture: Two men to the left being threatened by two men on the right with a spear)
(continues from page 1)

WIFE WATCHED AS HUSBAND MURDERED
She said that when she tried to inquire how it happened that he dared not look for her, and when an Aboriginal saw them together, he speared him right through the body and he was a corpse in an instant.

Mrs Fraser s aid that she then "ran to her husband, cried out 'Jesus of Nazareth, I can endure this no longer,' and pulled the spear out of the body, but the breath was gone forever". In another interview she said that her husband was speared while she hid behind a tree because he could not haul a huge log. She said that the spear emerged several inches through her husband's chest and when she went forward and pulled the spear from his body, he had said, "Eliza, I am gone forever! " and as blood spouted from his mouth he then died.

Another survivor of the Stirling Castle, Harry Youlden, differed with Mrs Fraser's version of events and said that"the captain and chief mate had both perished of starvation."

( Picture: Man on the ground with a woman standing over, a male holing her arm and three people in the background)

Mrs Eliza Fraserdraws record audiences Shipwrecked survivor becomes attraction

London, October,1837: Eliza Fraser continues to draw record crowds to hear her stories of her experiences at the hands of the Aborigines. One critic said that the true circumstances of her experiences appears to becoming more confused and obscured and they conflicted strongly with the stories of the other survivors because "Mrs . Fraser does not appear to let the truth stand between herself and a good yarn." Mrs Fraser has helped raise a virtual fortune of over $1000 due to her celebrity status since she returned to England. This is in addition to this over $800 had been raised for her benefit before she left Sydney and other generosity she received in Australia.

Mrs Fraser has angrily denied that her marriage another sea captain, Alexander Greene, in Sydney on 22nd February, this year was being kept secret for any ulterior motive. She said that although Captain Greene was 20 years younger than her former husband and more her own age he had been most kind to her and had
provided her with great comfort after her ordeal. Mrs Fraser- Greene has toured extensively cashing in on her ordeal following an itinerary organised by her manager- husband.

Mrs Fraser said that although she was earning a good living back in Britain endlessly telling the story
of her ordeal which tugged on the public heart strings, she will now try to see her three children in Stromness, where they had been destitute until their guardians received $964 from the Lord Mayor of London's subscription for their mother.

THE SHIPWRECK OF MRS. FRAZER, AND LOSS OF THE STIRLING CASTLE, ON A CORAL REEF IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE HITHERTO UNHEARD OF SUFFERINGS AND HARDSHIPS OF THE CREW, THE DREADFUL SUFFERINGS OF MRS. FRAZER,

WHO, WITH HER HUSBAND AND THE SURVIVORS OF THE ILL-FATED CREW, ARE CAPTURED BY THE SAVAGES OF NEW HOLLAND AND BY THEM STRIPPED ENTIRELY NAKED, AND DRIVEN INTO THE BUSH.
THEIR DREADFUL SLAVERY, CRUEL TOIL AND EXCRUCIATING TORTURES INFLICTED ON THEM. THE HORRID DEATH OF MR BROWN, WHO WAS ROASTED ALIVE OVER A SLOW FIRE KINDLED BENEATH HIS FEET! MEETING OF MR. AND MRS.FRAZER, AND INHUMAN MURDER OF CAPTAIN FRAZER IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS WIFE. BARBAROUS TREATMENT OF MRS.FRAZER, WHO IS TORTURED, SPEARED, AND WOUNDED BY THE SAVAGES.

THE FORTUNATE ESCAPE OF ONE OF THE CREW, TO MORETON DAY, A NEIGHBOURING BRITISH SETTLEMENT, BY WHOSE INSTRUMENTALITY, THROUGH THE INGENUITY OF A CONVICT, NAMED
GRAHAM, THE SURVIVORS OBTAIN THEIR DELIVERANCE FROM THE SAVAGES. THEIR SUBSEQUENT ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND, AND APPEARANCE BEFORE THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON INTERSPERSED WITH THE SUFFERINGS AND ADVENTURES OF ROBERT DARG, ONE OF THE CREW.

LONDON: PUBLISHED BY DEAN AND MUNDAY, THREADNEEDLE STREET. PRICE SIXPENCE.

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FOOTNOTE

Captain and Mrs Greene and her three children moved to Auckland, New Zealand, where Captain Greene lost some of his wife's money which he had invested in an unsuccessful venture. Eliza Greene was killed in a carriage accident in Melbourne, in 1858.
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USC281_0005
...survivors reached the Clarence River, the longboard landed on Fraser Island. The de- privations of the occupants of the long boat were related by Mrs. Eliza Fraser, the wife of Captain James Fraser, from whom the Island takes its name. Mrs. Fraser lived with the aboriginals and watched many of the survivors, including her husband die.

However celebrated, Mrs. Fraser's ordeal may not have been as severe as that of two survivors of the "Seabelle" which sank on Breaksea Spit in 1857. Although all had reached shore the men were murdered and the two teenage girls were disfigured by having their noses flattened and their mouths cut. They could hardly remember the English language when rescued two years later. The stories of the early history, the wrecks, and dramas of Fraser Island are legend.

USC295_0001
Reminiscences
of
Fraser Island
by Rollo Petrie

Presented in appreciation
by John Sinclair
on behalf of the
Fraser Islander Defenders Organisation
on the occassion of the launching of the
Eliza Fraser Sesqui-Century

22nd May 1986